IS THIS THE ENDGAME FOR THE MAOISTS?

Since the formation of CPI (Maoist) in 2004, the focus has been on developing the military wing and the political wing was grossly neglected.

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The recent killing Nambala Kesahava Rao (70) alias Basavaraju alias Ganganna in the Abujhmadh area of Chhattisgarh, has hit the banned CPI(Maoist) very hard. Getting Basavaraju, the general secretary of the party, at his headquarters, especially when he was guarded by his special protection force, which is referred to as Company no. 7, comes as a huge surprise for the left wing extremists.

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They are already on the backfoot with the ongoing operations by the security forces at Karregutta in Chhattisgarh, as part of operation Kagar and Black Forest and now the elimination of their top most leader, is the biggest blow that the security forces could give to the LWE, ever since they had launched their offensive.

But would the killing of Basavaraju, be termed as the 'Endgame' for the Maoist? Going by their brief six-decade existence, it may not be so.

In early 1990s, after the unified Andhra Pradesh government had launched the counter offensive with the formation of the elite anti-Naxal force the Greyhounds, the Maoists then referred to as CPI (ML) PWG (People's War Group), were reduced to just one single dalam. But they regrouped and bounced back to own up the formation of a 'liberated zone' in Chhattisgarh.

But as per security analysts, things in the 1990s were different and now the entire scenario has reversed.

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It was the Greyhounds that had pushed the Maoists from Andhra Pradesh to Chhattisgarh and Odisha and then the police force in these states were not equipped to handle the level of guerilla warfare unleashed by the Maoists.